Shine of a Ruby
by the-sparky-scribblings
Summary: Life is never easy. Especially when your little brother defeated the most powerful Dark wizard in history, leaving the two of you orphaned. And you're also dealing with growing up, singlehandedly raising said younger brother, and trying to keep track of your love life which is less navigable than King Minos' labyrinth. And life doesn't have cheat codes. Bummer.
1. Prologue

**Title: **Shine of a Ruby

**Disclaimer: **This story is based on the _Harry Potter _series by J.K. Rowling, who is not the same as Sparks, i.e. me

**Author: **Sparks (the-sparky-scribblings)

**Rating: **PG-13/Fiction T

**Summary: **Life is never easy. Especially when your little brother defeated the most powerful Dark wizard in history. And you're also dealing with growing up, singlehandedly raising said younger brother, and trying to keep track of your love life which may or may not exist.

**A/N: **This is not Fem!Harry. This is a revamp of a story I posted before which went down the drain after Chapter 1. I hope you enjoy this better version. I'm not JK Rowling, so I don't own HP.  
Lights, camera, ACTION!

* * *

_Prologue_

_The lioness paced, hidden by the trees, her sharp claws dragging grooves in the soft ground. She let out a soft growl, rolling it in her throat. Lost in her own, surprisingly human thoughts, the sound of hooves jolted her back to reality. She looked up just in time to see a young deer, a fawn, disappearing behind a tree._

_She stared at the place it ran from, for a while. She did not kill fawns, or any deer, even when she was starving. But tonight, the night of October 30, 1993, she had other things on her mind, other prey to hunt._

_A story replayed itself in her head, one her mother had told her, from her fairytale book, when she was very small. It was about a rat that had _helped_ a lion._

_If, at that moment, she was a human, she would have laughed. A loud, mirthless, sarcastic laugh filled with anger, vengeance and irony. And then, perhaps, she would have cried, cried for the fallen warriors, but then, she never cried. But she knew one very important thing._

_Rats _never_ helped lions. They never helped anyone or anything for that matter. Rats only "helped" people who bribed them well. Evil creatures, rats. The rat in question had broken out of prison, the very prison she freed her godfather, the loyal black dog, from. And she would hunt him down and take revenge._

_The first rays of dawn broke over the hill, and she realised with a start that she had stayed out all night. She slowly made her way back to the ruins of the mansion her ancestors had called home._

_The lioness morphed into a tall girl in her early twenties, with short, choppy, wild dark hair and hazel eyes._

_The girl walked inside, her footsteps making no noise. Today marked her parents' twelfth death anniversary. Today, she would seek vengeance._

**And that's a wrap! This scene, actually, has nothing to do with the real story. It's just sort of setting the mood for the whole thing. Chapter Two (the **_**real **_**chapter one) will be up as soon as I finish writing it.**

**Reviews are like the amazing feeling you get when you jump in the pool on a hot summer's day**


	2. Beginnings

**Title: **Shine of a Ruby

**Disclaimer: **This story is based on the _Harry Potter _series by J.K. Rowling, who is not the same as Sparks, i.e. me

**Author: **Sparks (the-sparky-scribblings)

**Rating: **PG-13/Fiction T

**Summary: **Life is never easy. Especially when your little brother defeated the most powerful Dark wizard in history. And you're also dealing with growing up, singlehandedly raising said younger brother, and trying to keep track of your love life which may or may not exist.

**A/N: **Here's chapter 2, or the real Chapter One, the real beginning. After all, there's no better place to start.

I am SO SORRY for leaving this story for months! My mother permanently grounded me from Fanfiction and I have only been writing this chapter in bits and pieces over the past six months whenever she went out :(

Disclaimer: I don't own what you recognize. But the new stuff and AU plot is what I own, which came out of a deep dark absolutely crazy place in my head

Visit my blog sparky-scribblings. tumblr. com (no spaces) for more updates and original fiction :)

(::) Cookies for reviewers :D

Lights, Camera, Action!

* * *

'You can do it, Lily! Just one more push and we'll have a beautiful daughter! Just one more!' cried James Potter. It was 1 AM, early morning of the 13th of April 1970, and Lily had been in labour for almost twelve hours. One minute, one agonizing minute later, a baby girl was born. Lily had just enough strength to look at her daughter before she passed out, exhausted.

She came to ten minutes later, when a still-crying baby was passed into her arms. The baby's cries gradually faded into soft whimpers as she slowly opened her eyes. The baby had hazel eyes, her father's, and her hair was dark, soft and obviously inherited from her father too.

A hush had fallen over the hospital room, whose members —apart from James, Lily, and the new baby— consisted of Minerva McGonagall, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, Marlene McKinnon, Dorcas Meadowes, Mary MacDonald, Andromeda and Ted Tonks, Alice and Frank Longbottom, Dorea Potter, and Anna Evans.

'Sirius, you'll be her godfather,' whispered Lily. 'Definitely,' said Sirius, also whispering. No one knew exactly why they were whispering, but it just seemed apt. They also didn't want to disturb the baby. 'What's her name?' piped Peter. 'Ruby,' replied James, who had dark circles under his eyes, but looked very happy. 'Ruby Marlene Potter'

Little Ruby soon turned out to be a big troublemaker. She couldn't even stay in one room for five minutes without damaging half of it. At the tender age of one, she already knew how to fly on her tiny toy broomstick, a present from all four Marauders together. Her childhood years passed quickly, too quickly.

* * *

Harry James Potter was born at 11:59 PM on July 31st 1980, a day which neither James nor Lily were happy about, for it made it possible for Harry to be the child of the prophecy. They were also apprehensive about Ruby's reaction to a younger brother, since even at the age of ten, trouble followed her wherever she went, most of which she caused on purpose. Ruby's first impression of her little brother was a purple shrieking _thing_ no bigger than a small loaf of bread. When it was her turn to hold little Harry, she sat on the edge of her mother's bed with the baby —who had finally stopped crying, thank Merlin— on her lap.

Little Harry cracked one eye open and started to wail again. She panicked, dropping the baby, which was quickly caught by her dad before he hit the ground. When Harry was safely tucked in her dad's arms, she slowly lifted a finger and traced his little cheek. Her little brother. A surge of emotions flowed into her like a river. They consisted mostly of overprotectiveness and sisterly love.

She couldn't understand how someone, some thing —for Voldemort, the slimy git, didn't deserve to be called a person— could ever even think of hurting a baby who was so pure, so innocent. A tiny whimper brought her back to the present. Her nail was digging in to the baby's skin. She quickly pulled her hand away, and observed the 'damage'. Luckily, nothing had happened.

She stayed there for a few minutes and then quietly excused herself. She ran to the bathroom, locked herself in a cubicle, and finally let a lone tear slip down her face. She didn't know why she was crying. She hadn't cried since she was a baby, not even when she'd broken every single bone in her arms AND legs when she'd lost control after crashing into a bird while flying. All she knew was that it had nothing to do with jealousy.

It took her a mere minute to compose herself, after which she walked back to the room, smiling widely, and no one noticed the slightly forced quality of her smile. Lily then made her sit on the bed so she could hold her little brother without Lily having to worry about potential brain/bone damage to Harry because his sister had dropped him on the head when he wasn't even an hour old.

* * *

A year passed and the fragile newborn was now a chubby little one-year-old, tearing off the wrapping paper from his godfather's birthday present. He squealed loudly when he saw what it was and promptly tried to mount the toy broomstick, falling down on his bottom when he lost balance. Harry blinked in confusion before James picked him up and put him on the broom, and then he flew off, very fast, and sailed straight through his very shocked mother's legs.

Ruby was simply running around after the broom, pretending to be a commentator.

"OH NO, what's that! A bludger! Potter swerves around the bludger and LOOK! He's seen the Snitch! The brilliant seeker makes a superb dive and snatches it and the crowd goes wild! They're taking Potter for a victory shoulder ride! Look at the Daily Prophet journalists, snapping pictures of what has to be the most phenomenal catch in the history of Quidditch!'

The Snitch was the family's very startled kitten which Harry jumped on, causing it to yowl and run to hide under the couch. Unbeknownst to them, Lily had snapped a photo of the whole catastrophic event, and couldn't stop her laughter as she picked up her infant son — who was still screaming with delight — to feed him his first taste of chocolate cake.

* * *

It was the first of September, and the four Potters were quite alone on the platform, waiting for the train to Hogwarts. They had come so early due to the fact that Lily and James had insisted upon seeing off their 'baby girl' at the station, and had finally decided to leave early to avoid any dangers being noticed would present.

The 'baby girl' in question, however, had an actual infant wrapped around her, howling at the prospect of his sister being left alone in the big cold nasty place grown-ups called 'Platform Nine and Three Quarters .'

Harry clung on to his sister's t-shirt and hair, and cried out when his parents tried to pry him off. "Leave him," said Ruby when Harry's wails started anew, and she began to pace up and down, whispering comforting things into the baby's tiny ear. He stopped crying and cooed, burying his head into her chest, giggling when she tickled him.

With a final peck on the top of his little head, Ruby returned the now-happy baby to her mother, received a kiss on her forehead, gave a fleeting hug to her father, and stared at their retreating backs and felt a little sad.

It was the last time the four of them would be together.

* * *

**And that's a wrap! I'm sorry for the chapter being so short and for making you guys wait so long, but the next one should be a bit faster, not making any promises or giving any ETAs  
Read and Review!**

**Love,  
Sparks**


	3. Hogwarts

**Title: **Shine of a Ruby

**Disclaimer: **This story is based on the _Harry Potter _series by J.K. Rowling, who is not the same as Sparks, i.e. me

**Author: **Sparks (the-sparky-scribblings)

**Rating: **PG-13/Fiction T

**Summary: **Life is never easy. Especially when your little brother defeated the most powerful Dark wizard in history. And you're also dealing with growing up, singlehandedly raising said younger brother, and trying to keep track of your love life which may or may not exist.

**A/N: **Just so you know, I started writing this only a few hours after I posted the previous chapter, and here it is, nice and long and fresh from the oven.

Cookies to my reviewers and readers and favourite-ers and story alert-ers and any other 'ers I may have missed. ( : : )  
Let's start, shall we?

* * *

_With a final peck on the top of his little head, Ruby returned the now-happy baby to her mother, received a kiss on her forehead, gave a fleeting hug to her father, and stared at their retreating backs and felt a little sad._

_It was the last time the four of them would be together._

Ruby turned to her godfather, disguised as an oldish man with greying hair. Sirius smiled reassuringly and ruffled her hair. "You'll do fine," he said. Her face turned serious. "Promise me you'll protect them," she said, her face filled with the kind of worried expression that did not belong on the face of any eleven-year-old.

Sirius sighed. Trust an eleven year old to put into perspective everything he was worrying about - and also trying to make him promise something she very well knew neither of them could do too much about.

"I don't trust Peter," Ruby began, the third time she'd voiced her thoughts in that week. Sirius sighed again, now exasperated, and repeated his words. "You and I both know that there's nothing we can do about it now. It's too late." He paused to look at his watch and continued, "Look at the time. It's nearly ten-fifteen. People are coming in now. I'd better go now. Have fun!" With that hurried farewell, he hugged her and rushed out of the platform.

Ruby grinned and waved, all worries about her parents pushed to the back of her head. They'll be fine, she told herself. With all worries and preoccupations out of her mind for the moment, she was left wondering what to do for forty-five whole minutes.

It was only then that she noticed the goodbye present Sirius had pressed into her hand moments ago. The latest Nancy Drew book lay in her hands, and when she opened it, she found a hastily scribbled note tucked inside.

Dear Ruby, it read,  
I know you loved these muggle "detective" stories, so I asked Padfoot to give this to you for me. I hope you'll forgive him for breaking your new bicycle!  
Love, Dad

Ruby grinned after she finished reading the note. At least now she'd have something to do besides twiddling her thumbs. And Padfoot was already forgiven. She just liked to hear his endless apologies and how he'd never try to do a wheelie on the 'darned flimsy thing' ever again.

However, she'd barely read the first page before another, noisier family turned up at the station. Nine people, all with flaming red hair, had just entered the station. The mother — who Ruby vaguely recognized, though for the life of her could not remember the woman's name — was struggling with two infants, both bawling their heads off. A small red-headed boy with glasses followed her, trying to act mature.

The father was trying to keep the other children in line, failing miserably. It was a truly chaotic sight, and Ruby had always been drawn to chaos. She smiled sweetly at the woman, offering to help. The woman, Molly Weasley, pointed to her toddler twins and heaved an exhausted sigh as she passed one cacophonic infant to her husband.

The twins, seeing a new person, forgot about running and promptly accosted her.

"I'm Gwed"  
"And I'm Fowge!"  
"And we're the bestest pwanksters of all time!"

Pranksters? Ruby loved pranks. A wicked glint shone in her eye.

"But we can't do pwanks..." continued Fred.  
"Without the stuffs!" ended George, rather loudly.

"FRED! GEORGE! STOP HOLLERING THIS INSTANT!" shouted a red-faced Molly. Amidst the chaos, Ruby noticed two more boys standing next to a trunk. The older one looked around her age. He was arguing with his younger brother, and as she approached them, she heard snatches of their conversation.

"It's not fair, Bill, why the hell do I get stuck at home babysitting the squirts while you go running off to Hogwarts?"

"Cause I'm older than you, Charlie-poo"

"SHUT UP AND DON'T CALL ME THAT! Though I bet I'll be wading through shit by summer. Shit that you'll have to clean up!"

"Language, brother!" Bill tutted, though he was grinning.

"You've got away with worse, but Mum loves you, 'cause you're older and supposedly 'mature'"

Charlie stomped off, perhaps to sulk about the imminent mountain of baby crap which was in store for him, leaving a laughing Bill behind.

"Hi."  
She startled him, causing him to jump and knock over his trunk.  
"Oh, er, hi" he stammered, diving to retrieve something which had fallen out of his bag.

Ruby snickered, which earned her a glare and an indignant "Oi!" from the subject of her amusement.

He scrambled to his feet, cursing. "I'm not always that clumsy, y'know."

"Are you a first year?"  
"Yeah. You?"  
"Me too. Which house do you wanna go to?"  
"Gryffindor. Slytherin's a definite no-no, and I don't think I'm suited for the other two. You?"

"Well, seeing that I'm not Death Eater material, nor am I hardworking, and I'd rather use my smarts for pranks than for the good of humanity, Gryffindor is pretty much the house for me. Not to mention my sheer badass-ness which guarantees me a spot there."  
She said all this with a cocky smile, almost as if she expected him to challenge her "sheer badass-ness"

They were interrupted by a shrill shout of "Mummy! Bill's trying to do things with that girl over there!"

The train had arrived at the platform in all its scarlet glory. There was chaos everywhere, last goodbyes, hurrying students, and disgruntled students trying to shake their younger siblings off.

Ruby really regretted not letting her mother owl her the packet of fudge and chocolate mousse which served as her going-away present. Her skinny arms were ready to snap after hauling her trunk (how many tons was that thing?) into the train and dragging it into the nearest empty compartment.

Hardly a minute had passed since she'd collapsed, when another person entered the compartment. Her hair was reddish-brown and she had a soft voice.

"Is anyone else coming here?"  
"Nope, just me."  
"Mind if I join you?"  
"In dying?"  
"You don't need help to die, y'know."  
"Shut up."

The girl took a seat. Till now, Ruby had made no attempt to lift her head off the seat and look at the person seated opposite her.

The door slid open again and Bill Weasley entered, accompanied by another boy. This boy was round-faced and chubby, with a mop of curly brown hair.  
"Hi, I'm Bill and this is Timothy."  
"Call me Biscuit, everyone else does," said the chubby boy. He smiled widely at the other three.

"I'm Siobhan. That girl's dying, apparen—"  
"I'm not dying now, I'm starving."  
"Hi Starving, I'm Biscuit. Nice to meet you."

Ruby looked up and stuck her tongue out at the people around her. "Biscuit is a weird nickname. Speaking of which, do you have any biscuits with you right now, mate?"

The food trolley arrived at that very moment. "What do you guys want? It's on me," Ruby said, grabbing ten chocolate frogs and a packet of Bertie Bott's for herself. She paid the woman fifteen sickles and dug into her food, satisfied.

* * *

A few hours and many games of Exploding Snap later, the train finally pulled up at Hogsmeade Station. The four children fell silent at the breathtaking first glance of Hogwarts Castle.

"Firs' years, o'er here!" called a gigantic man.  
The four children — who now seemed to be inseparable — caught one little boat for themselves just before they set sail across the Black Lake.

"Say, do any of you know about the Giant Squid rumored to live in these waters?" asked Biscuit, leaning over the edge of the boat.

"His name's Squidley Squart Senior. And, Biscuit, if you lean over the edge like that, we're all going to fall in. I can swim just fine but I doubt you guys can keep afloat," answered Ruby.  
"OI!"

* * *

All the first years were lined up, waiting to be Sorted.

Siobhan felt very apprehensive, fearing the reaction from her new friends when they'd learn her last name. Avery.

She knew her family members had done horrible things, and she also knew that their misdeeds had affected the families of her friends in particular, and to hope that they would not ostracize her for her family's deeds would be just wishful thinking.

Her name was among the first on Professor McGonagall's roster. "Avery, Siobhan!"

She ran up, trying not to make eye contact with any of her friends, and her heart stopped when the hat yelled Slytherin.

* * *

Timothy Anderson liked to think of himself as Gryffindor material. He had nothing against the other houses, but he did have a particular preference for the 'brave' house.

His father had been in Ravenclaw, and his mother, in Gryffindor, and he knew that his parents would be perfectly happy with any house but Slytherin. Both his parents were Muggle-born, so the odds of getting into Slytherin were highly reduced anyway.

But, when the hat cried Gryffindor, he let out a relieved breath he'd had no idea he was holding.

* * *

William Weasley was slightly nervous. Slightly being the operative word here. When they were alive, his uncles Fabian and Gideon had told him long, extremely scary stories of Sortings past. The scariness factor was upped by the story his uncle Bilius had told him, about what would happen, should anyone with Weasley blood be Sorted into Slytherin. The results were not pretty. Neither were his uncles when Molly Weasley had finished thoroughly hexing her brothers and brother-in-law for feeding her oldest child "disturbing and untrue stories which are not things acceptable for an innocent child's ears!"

He wished that he could convince himself not to believe the rubbish stories. But every time he tried, a nasty little voice in the corner of his head would slip doubts in, making his efforts counterproductive.

It was very relieving to only have to put on an old hat and wait till it decided where to put you, though, and he did think that some of the old curse stories could be spiced up a little to make them the horrifying elements of little Charlie's nightmares.

* * *

_Shut up, you stupid thing, you won't go to Slytherin and you know it. Ruby Potter had first thought these words as a means to reprimand herself for being nervous, but as the minutes passed, she kept repeating the line to herself as a sort of confidence mantra._

By the time her name was called out for Sorting, she'd repeated her mantra exactly five hundred and eighty-one times (yes, she had counted).  
The cool darkness of the Sorting Hat surrounded her, blocking everything from view.

_How could Godric Gryffindor have worn this hat and still been able to see?_ she wondered.

_His head was larger than yours,_ answered a voice which was definitely not hers.

_Are you the Sorting Hat? Can I not go to Slytherin, please?_

The Sorting Hat answered almost immediately. _You are far too reckless to be in Slytherin, not nearly kind or hardworking enough to go to Hufflepuff, and you would rather use your wits for pranking than productive work. There really is only one place to put you._

The last word was shouted to the whole Great Hall.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

* * *

**Nearly six pages and more than two thousand words long. Longest thing I've ever written. Hope you guys like it!**

P.S. Tell me if you think Ruby is Mary Sue-ish. I'm pretty new to the world of character development.

P.P.S. Check out sparky-scribblings on tumblr


	4. Orphaned

**Title: **Shine of a Ruby

**Disclaimer: **This story is based on the _Harry Potter _series by J.K. Rowling, who is not the same as Sparks, i.e. me

**Author: **Sparks (the-sparky-scribblings)

**Rating: **PG-13/Fiction T

**Summary: **Life is never easy. Especially when your little brother defeated the most powerful Dark wizard in history. And you're also dealing with growing up, singlehandedly raising said younger brother, and trying to keep track of your love life which may or may not exist.

**A/N: **I hope you guys liked the last chapter! This one is late because I wrote two pages worth of boring filler crap which I then deleted because of the writer's block it gave me, and, oh _yeah,_ because I realized it was _boring filler crap.  
_

The real story starts here and the romance part(:D) will start in a few chapters

Lights, camera, action!

* * *

_31st October, 1981_

That morning, no student at Hogwarts suspected anything unusual would happen. That an incident which would cause joy to many and blinding grief to a few would take place was an inconceivable notion. Yet, the incident which happened filled the above prerequisites and also struck terror into the hearts of some, and filled the majority of the Wizarding world with a feeling of security and safety, the likes of which had not been felt since the arrival of the threat posed by Voldemort to the Wizarding world.

This incident was the murder of Lily and James Potter.

* * *

The ceiling of the Great Hall showed a cloudless night with a star-studded sky. The Gryffindor first-years were eating, making up horror stories, and trying unusual new food combinations when Hagrid walked up to the table, an unusually pale, grave look on his normally kind, ruddy face. He said nothing, simply beckoning to Ruby Potter before leaving the Hall. This, in addition to the suspicious absence of Professor McGonagall, confirmed her suspicions of unpleasant circumstances. She turned away from Biscuit, who was dangling her glasses above her head, and rose from her seat, jogging to catch up with Hagrid's long strides out to his hut on the grounds.

"Hagrid, what _happened?" _she panted, grabbing a fence post to catch her breath. Once again, he did not answer, simply taking her hand and closing it over one end of a metal curtain rod. She gripped it tighter as she felt the jerk at her navel which lifted their feet off the ground, spinning them into existence at the ruins of what once used to be her home in Godric's Hollow. Her jaw dropped as she took in the wreckage, and, more importantly, Sirius crying over her father's body.

"DADDY!" she screamed, running towards the body. "Something must've hit him on the head! We've got to take him to St. Mungo's and quick! He could be comatose and we won't even have realized!"

She babbled on in this fashion, even trying to revive James' body by pouring cold water on his face, but her frenzied actions born of denial were cut short when Sirius put his hands on her shoulders and forced her to look at him. Ruby knew, deep down, that her father was dead and that nothing she did would bring him back, but this knowledge did not stop her from screaming at her godfather.

"Why are we still here? Why didn't you take him to St. Mungo's yet? Where's Mum? She.'s a bloody _Healer, _goddamit, she should be able to fix up Daddy!" Only after she finished screaming did she finally hear a soft cry coming from the first floor. She ran up the stairs to find Harry whimpering in his crib, a newly formed lightning scar on his forehead and their mother lying spread-eagled on the floor in front of his crib. Her lips were parted in a silent scream, emerald eyes wide open. Ruby slowly looked up, following her mother's unseeing gaze to a deep green formation in the sky. A skull with a serpent emerging from it. The Dark Mark.

It was this insignia, combined with the sight of her mother's dead body, that caused Ruby to finally break. Grabbing the infant and squeezing him tightly, she collapsed to the floor, tears finally flowing down her cheeks. She cried hard, cried for her parents, the fallen warriors; for her godfather, who had lost his fellow Marauder, his _brother,_ the last part of the family who'd taken him in when his own family had closed it's doors on him; for her own brother, the innocent baby who had a dark future ahead of him due to no fault of his own; and finally, the last few tears for herself, for not being able to be the best daughter they could ever imagine, and for never being able to make their hearts burst with pride for her.

She did not understand how she managed to stumble her way down the stairs carrying her brother, but soon enough, she was flying over Bristol, sitting in the sidecar of the motorbike Sirius had given to Hagrid, with Harry fast asleep in her arms. Sirius' last words to her, promising to kill Peter and let her destroy the body, echoed through her brain, a mildly reassuring mantra which lulled her into a restless sleep.

* * *

It was the touchdown at Privet Drive which woke Ruby. Yet, she pretended to be asleep, absently cuddling Harry closer and hoping that her friends Juliet Parker and Hestia Jones would shake her awake and hand her another letter from her mother, detailing the mischief and trouble her father and brother had gotten into. She knew it was futile when she felt the warmth emanated by the bundle in her arms.

Forcing herself to rise from her slumped position, she stared at the unfamiliar surroundings through lopsided, smudged glasses and froze when she read and recognized the sign bearing the street's name. _Surely they wouldn't— _she decided that even if Dumbledore _would _dare to leave her and her brother at their aunt's house, she would _never_ come quietly.

Albus Dumbledore, the eccentric Headmaster of Hogwarts, stood in the middle of the street, which was shrouded in darkness. Beside him stood Minerva McGonagall, who was arguing against the idea of the remaining Potters being locked away at the Dursley household. Ruby strongly agreed with the Transfiguration professor, and was about to voice her sentiments when she and Harry were lifted by Hagrid, hugged lightly and gently placed on the ground.

Dumbledore looked at her gravely and took a deep breath before finally telling her the plans he had involving her and Harry.

"Harry must stay here at Privet Drive. Isolation from the Wizarding world will help in avoiding any unnecessary negative attention. When she died, your mother's magic set up blood protections for Harry which require him to stay with a person who shares her blood. You cannot stay with Harry during this time period. I am sending you to live with the family of one of your housemates. Please, don't try to over-complicate matters, Miss Potter," Before the last sentence was spoken, Ruby snapped back her angry refusal, and took off into the night with Harry nestled in her arms.

A quick Trip Jinx made her fall before she could even reach the end of the cul-de-sac. Dumbledore caught up with the struggling girl in a few strides. "You can _not _leave Harry here alone," she snapped. "I don't care _who _you wanted me to live with, but I will let Harry stay here on _one _condition. I stay here during school holidays to protect him." Dumbledore opened his mouth to refuse, but Ruby continued, albeit in a more pathetic manner than before. "I can't let you take Harry away from me. He's all I have left. Please, Professor Dumbledore, you've got to understand!" The last sentence was a muffled whisper as she buried her face into the bundle containing Harry, trying to glean comfort, however small the comfort might be.

Dumbledore sighed. Try as he might, he couldn't keep the last remainder of his eleven-year old student's past from her. "Very well. You may stay on _one _condition. Harry must _not _find out about the Wizarding world _until _he turns eleven. I hope you will follow this one rule I set, unlike the many others you have broken in your time at Hogwarts."

He thought that an Unbreakable Vow would be unnecessary with someone so young, that the young girl would actually follow his conditions, but, looking back, he realized that he should have formed one with the girl who was so hellbent on breaking rules he'd set for her own well-being.

* * *

**Read and review! I want critical, analytic reviews so I can improve on my story and characters :)**

**Love,**

**Sparks**


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